Their greediness actually lost them the income during the vacant months PLUS the extra $100/month the old tenants were paying (I bet they'd still be there if they only raised $50-$100). 

If you have pictures, place an ad on Craigslist and Postlets listing the unit for the top end of the rent and see how much of a response you receive.Also, banking on a 20% increase in appreciation to get out of PMI is a risky bet so don't rely too heavily on this. 

To be exact, $5,000,000 in loan transactions a year.There might be a potential market for a middle man that would allow people that do not $5,000,000 a year to get some of the data.For example, many investors would love to find non performing loans in only one zip code.

I've bought through auction.com for trustee sales in NC, and on some property had no opportunity to perform property inspections or 'complete' due diligence like you would on an MLS listed property.

I'll bet you hear the same name mentioned a few times. 

I know all (okay...probably less than half) of the methods like "drive for dollars", put up signs, yellow letters, etc type of methods to find deals.  Truth is...I don't have time to allocate to doing those things and...

My goal on this property is to get it back to it's performance and rent it out at FMR (which I don't know... $225-275/room per student)Here are some of the financials - Ask: 520kMonthly gross rent: $5000Property taxes: 7kInsurance: 2.5k (for me)Gas & electric: 3.5kWater: 1.5kRents should be at least $6400/month or $7200 depending, (possibly higher?) 

Long term, if I hold both properties, I don't know for sure but I'd bet that the Glendale rents and prices will go up faster than Lancaster, as it is more central, more desirable, and has a better job base ...

I give his company a few thousand dollars a month after 4 to 6 months,  he then takes  that money  and uses it to  get a line of credit they also pay 7% on my money I am paying them and then something also about a couple years down the road  they complete some sort of deal that frees up another 20% so in essence I'm getting 10% return on my money a year and I'm getting a huge line of credit that I can use to buy good  performing  real estate.

In your price range/budget, conventional loans are likely your best bet.